As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.

My great aunt baked what she referred to as an Easter bread each year on Good Friday. It was a very dense sweet yellow bread which she baked in a bundt pan. She would serve it, toasted with butter. It was absolutely delicious. I have asked he daughters for the recipe but no one could find it. I asked my other cousins if they remembered it and they told me that their mother only made it on Christmas eve. But again, no one seems to have the recipe. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does anyone have a recipe?

Panettone which they sell everywhere during pre-easter time and then sometime after in supermarkets, Italian salumerias and delicatessens, grocery stores....Google.com for panettone recipe in title. =Peter=

Interesting, I looked it up on the web, and fouund that all of the recipes includes fruits and nuts. Niether of my aunts put any fruit or nuts in thier breads. Various recipes do note that these are either Easter breads or Christmas breads. So, aside from that fact that they did not use fruits or nuts, it looks like this is most likey is the same thing. The recipes do appear to be arduous in nature, just like my aunts'. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I will have to give this a try in the next couple of months...

YES!!! I would be extremely appreciative if you would share the recipe. It's one of the foods I miss most from my childhood. Easter has never been the same since she passed away, not just becuase of the bread, but it was her favorite holiday and she made it just as special as Christmas for the kids and the adults. Having the recipe would help to make this coming easter just a little bit like the old days.

Use all ingredients at room temperature. Mix yeast with warm tap water to form paste. On stove warm up milk. Add sugar, butter and yeast mixture to warm milk. Beat eggs, and then add vanilla, lemon, anise and lemon rind.
Mix together 6 cups flour and salt, anise seeds if desired. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture and knead together. Add remaining flour to dough as needed so dough is not to sticky.
Place dough in large bowel and dust with flour. Cover with cloth and let sit in warm place, radiator or stove, an hour or two until it doubles in size.
Punch dough down and divide into 4 equal parts. Place each flattened round lump of dough in 8" tins, cover and let rise in warm place. Glaze each loaf with egg white. Bake each at 325 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

PeterTimber wrote:Panettone which they sell everywhere during pre-easter time and then sometime after in supermarkets, Italian salumerias and delicatessens, grocery stores....Google.com for panettone recipe in title. =Peter=

are you sure it wasn't baba cake? it's like a coffee cake soaked in rum. I have a recipe (at home...) it's yummy...although, this year, I'm altering it...instead of soaking it in rum...I'm going to make a parrot bay (coconut rum) and pineapple reduction to pour over each slice...

my mouth is now watering.

OH,,,your bread...is it maybe the kind with the cheese and salami baked in the middle of it? thats kind of an eastery bread.

I know what babas are and no, that's not it. There was nothing baked inside the bread/cake. It was very dense, dry and yellow - I know it was made with lots of egg yolks, giving it it's rich yellow color and flavor. Had a slight anise flavor. From all that has been posted here, and my on line research, I am pretty sure that it is some variation of pattenone.

Baking this bread was an all day process - waiting for the bread to rise, punching it down and kneading it, then repeating the process several times, getting all the air out - hence the density of the bread.

I just started to read about the Easter Bread recipets. I remember that my grandmother (Sicilian) used to make the dough into long rolls about 3/4" thick then she would braid three pieces together to form a braided circle and she would put an whole egg on top,and brush it with egg to glaze the top. does anybody remember this? I would like to find the reciept for the bread which was like sweet bread flavor but had a more dough texture to the bread.
Thanks,
Frank

At Easter and Christmas we had Crescia...a wicked cheese cake concoction made with 10 eggs and cheese, pepper etc.......there is a family battle every year over who makes the best (the poor men who have to diplomatically navigate THAT one...yikes)

I have never heard of anyone else eating this.....is anyone else familiar with this cake?